Veniam: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

         The bell rang and soon the faces all around me turned to groans.
         “Come on Luca, days almost over,” Cami beckoned as she pressed down her skirt. I nodded and followed obediently. It’s not as if I knew where to go anyways. As soon as we were in the hallway people pressed around me. I suddenly felt claustrophobic as bodies pressed into me and shuffled past. Cami was pointing down hallways, shouting over the voices about room numbers and floors, I wasn’t really listening. I was too busy turning my head to look back into the commons. The Laine’s sat there, watching us all, with some form of authority I couldn’t comprehend. Before I knew it, I was whipped down the nearest hallway and pulled out of their sight. “And here we are!” Cami chirped laying one arm forward, beckoning me into the room. My jaw dropped. There he was; sitting in the back corner, all alone, when I had just seen him moments ago sitting at the table.
         “How could he have…?” I mumbled.
         “My seats up here, Mr. Walburg will give your seat, “she pointed to the desk at the back of the room where a tall thin man sat. I smiled at his appearance. A thick mustache sprouted beneath his nose and curled at the ends. That alone wasn’t it. It was all the hair he had upon his head. I walked toward him shyly.
         “Hello sir, my name’s Luca, Luca Gray, I’m new,” I murmured quickly to him. He looked up to me, his mustache twitching.
         “Humph, yes, over there. The chair in front of mister Laine is the only open seat,” he pointed right at Nicolay. “Oh, and Miss Gray,” he said. I turned my face slowly back to him.
         “Yes?”
         “Welcome to Gilbert, I’ll enjoy having you in my class, ay?” he said with a smile hinting behind the enormous fur on his lips. I nodded as he headed to the front of the classroom. I fearfully walked towards my new seat. Nicolay’s eyes had been glued to me since I walked into the room. They stayed on me as I walked towards him and sat down. The intensity of his stare burned a hole in my back and I almost couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t focus at all on what Walburg was saying and the clock ticked angrily in my ear drums. Making it evident how slow the time would go. I couldn’t help, but wonder. What had I done so wrong? Sitting in an office? Walking to class? He didn’t even know my name, let alone anything about me.
         “I’m sorry, but can I help you?” I turned around voraciously, brows furrowing. I met his unrelenting stare. He didn’t even startle. Then a smile crept across his face. He leaned forward, his eyes blaring into mine, nose only centimeters away.
         “Might you turn around? I’m trying to listen,” he gestured to the chalkboard as I heard our names bellow out of Mr. Walburg’s mouth.
         “If you two are done flirting, please draw your eyes to my lecture,” he bellowed. Slamming his ruler into the chalkboard notes as I slowly turned around in shame and slunk in my chair. This was the understatement of terrible first days.

~~

         “Luca! Luca!” Cami chased me down the hallway. “Hey! what’s the rush?” she grabbed my shoulder, catching her breath. “I thought you’d wait for me,” she spoke quickly, hurt crossing her slender cheeks.
         “I’m sorry; I just needed to get out of there.” I recalled the rest of class, hearing his finger nails clipping his desk top, the feel of his eyes still in the back of my head and the heat across my cheeks as the rest of the class kept staring back at us, like we were some circus show or something.
         “Ohhh, you mean Nicolay. I swear people won’t stop talking about it; he never talks to anyone, ever! You’re a real celebrity already,” she quipped with a smile. I turned to her for a second.
         “It’s only been five minutes since class ended, how can news spread that fast?” I asked, but sure enough. As I walked through the halls, people eyes were glued to me. Whispering to one another, smiling, others scowling.
         “Hey, Luca, right?” a boy approached me from the locker sidelines, wearing a white polo and khaki pants. He smiled at me and I nodded. “I’m James, I was in your last class. Sorry about Walburg, he can be a total buzz kill sometimes.” I chuckled to humor him, keeping my eyes low while Cami kept smirking from beside me. “Anyway, I have to get going, but welcome to Gilbert, “he said grabbing my hand and voraciously shaking it. “I’ll talk to you later,” he shouted out as he jogged away. I turned back to Cami.
         “What…was that?” I asked bewildered. This town was mad, sincerely mislead on social acceptability.
         “Oh, James? He’s uber cute - great catch!” she exclaimed with the same smirk donning her cheeks. I suddenly grew red in the face.
         “What do you mean?” I asked. She rolled her eyes and put an arm around my shoulder.
         “Like you don’t know!” she clamored. “He was flirting with you!” My face grew even more colored at her remark.
         “Flirting? I don’t even know how to get to my house from here, let alone know how to flirt!” Cami just chuckled and pulled me along down the hallway.

*

Clamoring through the darkness, I could feel the atmosphere pinning me down to the hard surface I had collapsed upon. Like a heavy weight had been shackled to my back, I could merely crawl across the platform, wandering aimlessly towards his voice. That cry. Shrieking through the sound waves, boiling inside my eardrums as the world around me sizzled in heat.
         “Help me, please god, someone, help…” I thought feverishly as gasps for air became less oxygen and more smoke. It billowed inside me, taunting my body with false hope.
         “Where are you?” the man’s voice spoke, softly, smooth, like a melody now, trickling in. I halted my desperate crawl, the sound seemingly coming from above. I did not know where I was. “How can I help one which I cannot find?”  He seemingly sang. “Where are you? “had become the refrain, a chorus of repetition. I refused to speak, only to hear it continue, I was entranced by its glow; its resonance. As if plucking the strings to my heart, my panic no longer swelled. “Where are you?” Here, I wished to cry, here, in the dark, in some place I did not know, what uselessness! How was I to be saved if I did not know where to lead the rescue? No, if I should die, I will die in the peacefulness, this calming aura of sensation. “Where are you?” sending bumps across my skin, and shivers dancing down my spine through my legs and arms, out my fingertips. “Where are you?”…”Where are you?”……. “Where are you?”